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He never has. Christ returns before the Millennium, a literal thousand years 2. We cant have those prophecies come to pass with regard to Israel in an earthly, literal kingdom the way the Old Testament seems to be saying it, so set aside normal, natural, literal interpretation. Those who most celebrate the sovereign grace of election regarding the church and its inviolable place in Gods purpose, from predestination before the foundation of the world to glorification in the future, those who most celebrate the sovereign grace of election, those who most aggressively, most militantly, and most capably defend the truth of Scripture regarding this election being divine, unilateral, unconditional, irrevocable by nature, for the church - thats for us . We know that Word about the future has that power. We still have Mark to go, but there are only a couple of discourses and a couple of miracles in Mark that arent in the other three gospels, so not a lot of new material. This morning John MacArthur opened the 2007 Shepherds Conference with a loud blast that will no doubt be heard around the Reformed world in the coming weeks. John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, where he has served since 1969. Also, among Scottish Presbyterian churches during this period, special days of prayer were set aside partly in order that the promised conversion of [Gods] ancient people of the Jews may be hastened. (Quoted in Murray, The Puritan Hope, 100.) Theres a rapture, and theres a bma seat judgment; we know that. Now, Ive been telling you for a number of months that we were going to get into the subject of eschatology, the doctrine of last things. Death, where is your victory? It was developed in mid-19 th century England by John Darby, a leader of the small but influential Plymouth Brethren Movement. Ive been teaching and preaching the Bible expositionally now for over 40 years, one verse at a time. For example, the book is well-organized. It is one thing to omit them for a time, and another to do it ordinarily. Where is the divine mandate to do that? Enter your email address and we will send you instructions on how to reset your password. Primer, ed. They didnt really get to the front of ecclesiology either, the study of the church, but those two kind of go together - as well see in this study - in some very fascinating ways. It is the theme of Scripture, the theme of eternity, and the . Historically, church fathers favored historic premillennialism, including Ireneaus, Papias, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Hippolytus. As you may be aware, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into full effect on 25th May 2018. Well, we now come to the doctrines that relate to the end times. Worship - John F. MacArthur 2012-01-20 Nothing is more important than worship. How could He hold any of us, in one sense, responsible for not believing? Do not look down on others from your view of the end-times. Its the whole point of the beginning and the middle. He doesnt know the future because it hasnt happened. Btw, LA is beautiful and the conference is great, I hope to post some reflections as the week goes on. This message clears up any questions as to where MacArthur stands on the eschatology issue. Because we dont want you to incur expenditure for which you are not prepared, could you please confirm whether you are willing to pay this charge, if necessary? And Im not in to newspaper exegesis, where you where everything that happens in the news fulfills some obscure Old Testament prophecy. And Ive gone back after I preach, and Ive written commentaries - now I think 26 or 27 volumes on the New Testament - back through the same material again and again and again and again and again, so that this understanding of eschatology has had to stand the acid test of every text. An article by John MacArthur: "The common question of which Bible translation to use is very important--it concerns the most important words ever spoken, the words of God the Creator. After clicking 'Register', you will receive an email with a link to verify your account and to complete your registration. Now, I've been telling you for a number of months that we were going to get into the subject of eschatology, the doctrine of last things. Whats that about? Look, I reject all of those really abusive and bizarre kinds of interpretation; but frankly, theyre no more wacky then the interpretations of the amillennialists, who want to take the entire book of Revelation and stuff it into the events of 70 A.D. and a few years afterwards and come up with things that are just as ridiculous. So to interpret Matthew 24 the way John MacArthur does as all about the tribulation period, and then all of a sudden you get to verse thirteen and you read into that a whole soteriological concept that I've got to make it to the end of my life in good works to prove I'm a Christian so I can get to heaven. Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource. It is pungently clear. CLASSIC DISPENSATIONALISM. Please make sure all fields are filled out. John MacArthur's Defense of Dispensationalism Monday, December 8, 2008 by Gary DeMar In 1988, John MacArthur wrote The Gospel According to Jesus, a controversial book in certain circles because he relied heavily on the views of Calvinistic writers to deal with the lordship salvation controversy. The amil guy, MacArthur said, would have to say that things have changed, those promises no longer apply to you, we have them now and this is the kingdom. 2023 Grace to You. My professors were a Who's Who of dispensational premillennialism: John Walvoord (then president of DTS), Charles Ryrie (author of Dispensationalism Today and The Ryrie Study Bible ), and J. Dwight Pentecost (author of perhaps the most influential text on the subject at that time, Things to Come ), just to mention the more well-known. Arminius did not believe in election; those who follow him do not believe in election. Theyve been refined, clarified, expanded, enriched through these 50 years, but I was convinced when I started. There is no doubt that he does hold to the fundamental distinction between the Church and Israel, though he does not always apply this distinction consistently. They believe that salvation can be gained and lost. Another way to see this would be to ask this question: what other category of theology - what other category of theology except atheism - starts with the alpha privative and labels itself as believing in something that doesnt exist? But there is a growing influence of amillennialism, because amillennialism has been a part of reformed theology. Should We Cancel Karl Barth, Martin Luther, and Jonathan Edwards? But they never got around to eschatology; they never got around to applying their formidable skills. Another Rapture passage - great one - verse 16: the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ shall rise first. Now, frankly, its too late for John Calvin to fix his work, although he is now a premillennialist in heaven. (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, [1834] 1974), 1:607.). For details about this sermon and for related resources, click here: https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/90-339 To receive John MacArthur's monthly l. But in the Old Testament - for example, Isaiah 45:4: Israel, Mine elect. And by the way, if we change the rules, what are the new ones? We understand that when you have a prophecy in the Bible that has not yet come to pass, not everything will be clear. An Excellent Defense of The Rapture by Dr. John MacArthur But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. Some of them are postmillennialists, although there are fewer and fewer of those. Whether youre talking about the church as Gods elect, or Israel as Gods elect, both are Gods elect. Im unwaveringly committed to that. But people are upset because MacArthur so badly misrepresented amillennialism, and because he defined "premillennialism" as though it were dispensationalism. Mathewson, Dave L. So, my words to you are really very simple foundational words, I say this. His point being that Jesus literally fulfilled promises of God just as they would have been literally taken, how in the world can we now redefine the kingdom in a different way than it was described in and through the prophets? Loraine Boettner wrote a book called The Meaning of the Millennium; this is what he said: It is generally agreed that if the prophecies are taken literally, they do foretell a restoration of the nation of Israel in the land of Palestine, with the Jews having a prominent place in that kingdom and ruling over the other nations.. He confronts the views of covenant theology, historical premillennialism, ultradispensationalism, and, in this revised edition, the increasingly popular progressive dispensationalism. If this is a future event, why arent premillennialists warning the Jews in Israel whats about to take place? John MacArthur has compiled more than 20,000 study notes, a 200-page topical index, and numerous charts, maps, outlines, and articles to create The MacArthur Study Bible. He asked what the amillennialist would say if the Jew asked about the kingdom and the blessings. His message in General Session 1 was entitled Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is Premillennial. Whether you are a pessimistic amillennialist, or an optimistic amillennialist - thats a postmillennialist - you dont know what to do with prophetic truth, because if you interpret prophetic truth in the same normal, natural way you interpret all the rest of the passages of Scripture, youre going to end up a premillennialist; its inevitable. Turn to Revelation chapter 1. . If you look at Acts 3:19, Peter says, Repent therefore, and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing - thats the millennium - may come from the presence of the Lord; that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive till the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. So, having your eschatology in place may lead you to repentance. I think He cares that we get it right, thats why He wrote it, and I think He understands that His glory is at stake, and our hope and comfort is at stake and the evidence of Gods massive moving in history is at stake with regard to the future. They are certainly available (or they should be) in the library at MacArthurs Masters Seminary. (Quoted in DeJong, As the Waters Cover the Sea, 38.). Why do we want to change the rules in interpretation to avoid that? Chicago: Moody, 2012. Preachers Should Measure Twice and Cut Once, Why Our Church Cancelled Christmas Eve Service. See here and here. Grace to You radio, video, audio, print, and website resources reach millions worldwide each day. And youve been great tonight; this is more like a theological lecture. MacArthur is a fifth-generation pastor, a popular author and conference speaker and has served as pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California since 1969, and as President of The Master's College (and the related Master's Seminary) in Santa Clarita, California. Resting Not Vexing, Our Anchor in a Sea of Chaos and Consternation, Why I (Sometimes) Listen to Supreme Court Oral Arguments. When it was first published three and a half decades ago, Paradise Restored helped to precipitate a massive paradigm shift in the Evangelical and Reformed world from abject pessimism to unabashed optimism. Now, to affix our thinking to one great future event which seems to be the most controversial, I want you to think with me about the coming kingdom of Christ, known as the millennial kingdom, because in the twentieth chapter of Revelation, the opening of that chapter, there is reference to the reign and rule of Jesus Christ on the earth which lasts one thousand years; in fact, one thousand is repeated six times in that brief text. Now, next time Im going to take you through a series of about five questions that were going to ask and see how this plays out on the pages of Scripture, okay? We are responsible for our sin, but in the end, we believe because He moves on us. His message in General Session 1 was entitled "Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is Premillennial". There are a number of viewpoints of what the Bible means when it speaks of future events. We chart the course and God reacts. I said, Sure - Ill take all day Friday, Ill tell you the future. So, I just marched them through the order of the chronology of eschatology as its laid out clearly, both in the Old and the New Testament, and I finished. He and his wife, Christie, have six children. And may I remind you that you have one very, very important reality to deal with in case you think theres no future in Israel: living Israelites. ), We have, hence, sufficient ground to conclude, that, when these prophecies shall have their accomplishment, the interest of Christ shall be the prevailing interest in the world, which it has never yet been in all respects; so that godliness shall be as much and as universally valued and esteemed, as it has hitherto been decried, and it shall be reckoned as great an honour to be a Christian, as it has, in the most degenerate age of the church, been matter of reproach…. Its the same God, same terminology. Now, Im going to save the good stuff till next time, but I want to just end by giving you a little list of benefits of getting your eschatology right, okay? You have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about. There should be a footnote in the chapter saying, Please note: here comes a prophetic text; change the rules. We really need a divine mandate, because I think God cares that we get it right. I have thought about these things, by the way, for a long time. An Anglican - an Anglican - by the name of William Cunningham in 1815 wrote a book called The Premillennial Advent; he was anything but a dispensationalist. Why, then, if we are so committed to protecting the text of the beginning in its literal nature, are we so fast to give up the texts of the end and their literal nature? I have - they can try to terrify me with all this stuff; I am unmoved. What he is saying is, a literal interpretation of the Old Testament is going to lead you to a premillennial view, and since we dont want to get there, we cant use a literal approach. Its the whole point of everything else. Amillennialism is consistent with Arminianism. Or another way to say it would be this: how many of you have attended an amillennial prophecy conference? I remember when I flew to Kazakhstan in about a 35 or 38-hour flight; got off the plane at 7:00 in the morning to speak at a conference. In the mid-seventeenth century, the Westminster Larger Catechism, in the answer to Question 191, displayed the hope for the future conversion of the Jews. So, if you say the promises of the Old Testament that refer to Israel really meant the church, you have no precedent for such an interpretation. Certainly, you have no idea what it means - neither does anybody else. DP also believes that God has a place for both national Israel (cf. Death, where is your sting? MacArthur and the seminary faculty know of Murrays work. So, you interpret it right, and that will allow you to understand the meaning of the Covenants and the future of Israel; and Gods integrity is at stake. But they want to get God off the hook, so they say Hes really not responsible, Hes really not in charge of anything; Hes just trying to figure it out. We can interpret it the way we interpret any other passage of Scripture, with the same use of the normal, natural means of interpreting language, and we should; and it will yield for us as clear an understanding of the future as the Lord wants us to have. "John MacArthur on Calvinism, Dispensationalism, Israel, and Hermeneutics: A Few Comments" . After thorough study I saw that his views on the topic were based on (among other things) circular reasoning and tradition. You cannot fight the war on every front, and at the great time of the Reformation, they were fighting the war where the battle raged the hottest. Romans 11:28 . A History of Christian Zionism: Philo-Semitism and the Expectation of Israel's Restoration. Please be aware that these items are sent out from our office in the UK. I am not going to try to quote him here, because frankly I did not take notes, I just sat there and listened. A Case for . Amen. And whats at stake here? Did God do this but somehow mumble? We shall all be changed, in a moment, the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed., Thats the rapture; were going to study the rapture. Process theology: they are the theologians, liberal theologians, who believe that God is in process of becoming what He will be. Amillennialism is ideal for Arminians because, according to their theology, God elects nobody and preserves nobody. Even His promises may not be valid, because He made them with inadequate information. He comes pre, not post; He comes before. The church will move out of its own environs to capture nations, leaders, ideologies, philosophies, theories, religions, and bring them all into captivity to Christ. But some are holding on to what they have taught in the past; I guess self-preservation dominates their theology at that point. Post-Millennialism, in stark contrast to Pre-Millennialism, believes that the Millennium occurs before Jesus' Second Coming rather than after. Interestingly, some of this same languagethe phrase double conversion of the Gentiles in particularwas used by Johann Heinrich Alsted, whose premillennial The Beloved City or, The Saints Reign on Earth a Thousand Yeares (1627; English edition 1643) exercised great influence in England. And in line with that, I want to try, at least, in the next couple of Sunday nights to establish a foundation for our understanding. This is a positive book: positive about the future of the Church. There is another form of that view called amillennialism; amillennialism - and youve probably heard about that. MacArthur pulled no punches in his messages saying things like Jesus, Peter, the writer of Hebrews, and James were all premillenial. A Purchased Victory: A Conference on the Bright Hope of Postmillennialism, Website made by Chittam Technology Solutions, LLC. We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus shall we always be with the Lord. Heres the application: Therefore - do what? In one passage he defends premillennialism by arguing that a future earthly kingdom is necessary because of God's promise to Abraham, he wrote "The promise remains steadfast. John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, editors Moody Publishers 2012-02-21 Five faculty members of The Master's Seminary have written an excellent primer on what they call "futuristic premillennialism." This is a strong defense of pretribulational dispensational premillennialism. If you interpret Old Testament prophecies literally, they cannot be fulfilled in this present age. I think it matters to God. Continue reading In the modern theological world, I say leave amillennialism to the process theologians. Cause what that means is God does know the future; God has set the future, and the future involves not only the glory of His church but the fulfillment of His elect people Israel with regard to everything that He promised that nation. And Im really grateful that the Spirit of God is moving the way He is these days, and moving in the church to reestablish the glorious high ground of the sovereignty of God in salvation. Piper was responding to an "Ask Pastor John . But that is essentially what theyre asking us to do. Its there. The reformers had it right on most issues. You can figure it out. That is a large part of evangelical Christianity, the Wesleyan movement, Charismatic movement, Methodists, etc., etc., many Baptists. Ligon Duncan and CJ Maheney (preaching tonight in the place of John Piper) both are Amil; Al Mohler and Mark Dever are both Historic Premil (I believe, correct me if I am wrong). I dont know about you, but I really cant get too worked up about greenhouse gases. I had no idea what they believed - 1600 pastors and leaders from central Asia - Id never have even been there; and the group that led the conference came to me afterwards with smiles on their faces and said, You believe exactly what we believe. This isnt something for people who have been highly educated; this is something for people who havent been corrupted by education. You can choose Him and then not choose Him, and then choose Him again and then not choose Him, and you make the decision; and so, all of the promises of God are conditional on you. Guest. But I want to approach this whole thing with you, as my congregation, the way I did with three thousand five hundred pastors a couple of weeks ago. In 1652, a group of eighteen Puritan ministers and theologians, including both Presbyterians and Independents, affirmed that the Scripture speaks of a double conversion of the Gentiles, the first before the conversion of the Jews, they being Branches wild by nature grafted into the True Olive Tree instead of the natural Branches which are broken off…. We want the Word to cause us to live lives pleasing to You. Its just a lot of material. What you have here is a benediction from God: blessed is he who reads and understands the book of Revelation. Over 200 times in the Bible God is called the God of Israel - over two hundred times, the God of Israel.. John MacArthur laid down the gauntlet on the issue of prophecy in his opening talk at the 2007 Shepherds Conference that was titled Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist Is a Premillennialist. He was emphatic that only premillennialism takes the prophecies concerning the future of Israel seriously. Ive been putting an outline together in preparation for two talks I did for the December 1819 online A Purchased Victory: A Conference on the Bright Hope of Postmillennialism. My two talks deal with biblical and cultural impediments that are often raised against postmillennialism. Accordingly, we have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions in order to comply with GDPR. Now, the truth of the matter is, those are just two ways to look at the same thing; postmillennialism and amillennialism is really the same thing. and defends what can only be described as postmillennialism over against premillennialism. (Ridgeley, Commentary on the Larger Catechism, 1:563564.). Yet in Sproul's lifetime, he and MacArthur were close friends. A Preface First: One of the reasons I am doing this review of Dr. MacArthur's sermon Why Every Calvinist Should Be a Premillennialist is due to a good friend and sister in Christ who wished to challenge me on the subject of eschatology. Other well-known historic premillennialists include Walter Martin; John Warwick Montgomery; J. Barton Payne; Henry Alford, a noted Greek scholar; and Theodor Zahn, a German New Testament scholar. See, for example, Michael Vlach's article "How Does Historic Premillennialism Differ from Dispensational Premillennialism?", this "Eschatology Comparison" chart, and this article "An Historical . Blessed. Scofield, that came out of J.N. They would rather believe that God has predestined His Church to failure than believe that they are personally responsible for transforming society. - comfort one another. Amillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, historic premillennialism, postmillennialism, preterism. If you read the paper and have your eyes open, and youre breathing, and your body has any temperature at all, you know things arent getting better. A recurring topic of interest in his writings is the historical reliability of the Scriptures. Instead, MacArthur systematically unpacked the biblical theology that leads one to an unabashed Calvinistic eschatology. Jonathan Edwards, a noted postmillennialist and someone MacArthur quotes unfavorably in his Shepherds talk, outlined the future of the Christian Church in his 1774 History of Redemption. This is process theology. Some people try to call it poetry, but its clearly not poetry - it has none of the earmarks of poetry, none of the characteristics of Hebrew poetry. Israel disobeyed the law, youre done. This makes two distinct judgmentsone for Christians and one for non-Christians after the millennium. Show more Friends Following A. DeJong, As the Waters Cover the Sea: Millennial Expectations in the Rise of Anglo-America Missions, 16401810 (Kampen: J. H. Kok, 1970), 3738.) All right, thats the introduction. There are over two thousand references to Israel in Scripture; not one of them means anything but Israel. And who made them? Is that what God wanted us to do, to look at it and say, Aw, I cant figure this out; lets forget it? There are whole denominations that are instructed not to teach on the end times. by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue (Chicago: Moody, 2012), 24. A Review of Dr. John MacArthur's "Why Every Calvinist Should be a Premillennialist" Sermon. Craig Blaising and Darrell Bock, Progressive Dispensationalism Dispensationalism continues to provoke heated debate within the Christian world. 13:79). Murray notes that A number of years before [the Larger Catechism and Westminster Directory for Public Worship] were drawn up, the call for prayer for the conversion of the Jews and for the success of the gospel throughout the world was already a feature of Puritan congregations. (Murray, The Puritan Hope, 99.) That's a complete misreading. We had met a short time ago, and she had questions about . In similar language, Scripture affirms the perpetuity of ethnic Israel to a future salvation and a future kingdom as a race of people, and that in that salvation and in that kingdom will be the fulfillment of all divine promises given to them in the Old Testament, repeated in the New Testament, and through them to the world.